City Council Member Lincoln Restler has invited all to a meeting, to be held this coming Monday, February 26, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Borough Hall (enter at 209 Joralemon Street) to discuss a proposed re-design of Columbus Park, also called Borough Hall Park. That park extends from Joralemon Street past Borough Hall and includes the space in front of Borough Hall, the garden and fountain, and the broad pedestrian walkway, with benches on both sides, that continues to the statue of Henry Ward Beecher. Part of the parkland, between Borough Hall and Adams Street, is used as a parking lot for judges. A portion of the park, extending a short distance either side of the intersection of Montague Street and Court Street/Cadman Plaza West, is used on Tuesdays and Saturdays for the Borough Hall Greenmarket. For several years now, a larger portion has been used for the Brooklyn Book Festival (see photo).
Mr. Restler notes that, except for the Greenmarket and Book Festival,
[m]ost of the park is underutilized … In partnership with Borough President Antonio Reynoso and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, my office has been spearheading an effort to envision a park for the Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights communities and for Brooklyn as a whole – right in the heart of our borough’s civic center. We have convened a Columbus Park Task Force comprised of civic, cultural and educational leaders over the past couple months and now we are organizing a broader community input meeting.
For more about the proposed redesign, see Mary Frost’s Eagle story.
If you would like to attend the meeting on Monday, RSVP here.
